


Sandboy

by GreenPhoenix3



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Dreams, Dreamscapes, F/M, Fluff, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 01:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenPhoenix3/pseuds/GreenPhoenix3
Summary: Dreams- a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.That is such a simple definition for something far more complex. It leaves so many questions to be answered. Are dreams real? Are they an escape from reality?  What if you fell in love with the sound of a dream? What then?





	1. First Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [YoukaiYume](https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoukaiYume/gifts).



> This was brought on by the CharBee exchange and the great CharBee Discord. Thank you so much YoukaiYume for encouraging me to do this piece. I do not own Transformers or their characters. This is not beta-read and may contain grammar mistakes, sorry!

_**Charlie: 5 years old** _

 

The first time Charlie heard the voice was when she was five. It was in a dream of honeycomb starlight. She stood on solid sapphire starlight as the navy night sky surrounded her.

“Wow!” She gasped at the beauty around her.

“H-h-hello?” A young boy’s voice drifted into Charlie’s ears. 

“Hello!” Charlie yelled out. There was a yelp followed by a loud thud.

“Ow.” She heard a very sad groan underneath her. The starlight was too bright to see through so she laid down on top of it.

“Are you okay?” Charlie yelled.

“W-w-who’s there? Where am I?” The boy’s voice was scared but Charlie wondered why. Everything was so pretty.

“I’m Charlie and I think we’re in Dreamland or Starland. Are you Sandman?” Charlie asked excitedly. Her dad listened to a song about the Sandman. He supposedly gave great dreams. She had to say he was doing good so far.

“No. I’m in recharge mode, or at least I was supposed to be.”

“Recharge?”

“Yeah.” Charlie shrugged at the answer, figuring the boy meant he was doing some kind of game.

“So what’s your name?” Charlie asked, excited to meet her new friend.

“Name?”

“Yeah, your name. I can’t call you dream boy. That’s silly.” Charlie giggled and the boy joined her. 

“Um, the watchers call me 127.” The boy replied finally.

“127?”

“Yeah.” Charlie wrinkled her nose.

“Well, I think I’ll stick with Sandman. Or how about Sandboy?” Charlie let out a giggle. “Sandboy.” The starlight around her grew just a bit brighter.

“I like it.” He sounded airy, almost like her dad did when her mom laughed. “Hello, Charlie. I’m Sandboy it’s, it’s nice to meet you.” Charlie could picture the smile of her new best friend.


	2. Best Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bee's POV for this one.

_**Charlie: 7** _

 

B-127 didn’t know why he was dreaming of Charlie or her voice. It could mean that he was crazy but he didn’t care, because for just a few minutes (no matter how long he spent recharging it was only a few minutes with her) he wasn’t the small one. He was her Sandboy. He gave her good dreams and made her laugh. She had a light way of laughing that sounded weird and organic but it was nice. It made his spark thrum. So when he opened his optics to see the odd edge of brown organic life overlooking a vast of blue and heard Charlie gasping, he feared the worst.

“Are you okay Charlie? What happened? What can I do?” 

“SB?” It hurt to hear the surprise in her vocals. She was there for him when he lost everything and ended up at the watchers. He just wanted a friend and she was there. The least he could do was be there for her.

“I’m here, Charlie.” 

“Do you think I’m a girl?” Her voice was quieter than usual and sounded muffled.

“What?”

“Do you think I’m a girl?” He heard her take a deep breath. “I wanted to play with toy cars like my daddy does, but these girls said no because only boys play with those toys. And I wouldn’t be a girl if I played with those toys.” The sky around B-127 darkened and he didn’t know exactly what Charlie was talking about, she said a lot of funny words, but he knew that someone made her doubt herself, her smile that laced her words.

“Do the, toy cars, make you smile?” B-127 began wringing his digits, hoping he said it right.

“Yeah.”

“Then play with them, because I bet that those, um, the others are just jealous because you have a pretty smile.” He almost jumped for joy when he heard a little snort.

“You can’t even see me, silly.” She teased.

“Well, it sounds pretty and has a lot of vocal range. My sensors can pick that up.” B-127 let out. There was silence for a second, then he heard her organic laugh.

“You say such funny things, SB.”

“You’re one to talk, Charlie! What is a toy anyway?” 

“Seriously? Ow!” He let out a snort as he pictured her turning to face the starlight the surrounded her (at least that was what she told him). “How can you not know what a toy is? Don’t your parents get you some?” B-127 felt his energon drop in temperature as the memory came to him. It seemed he could not leave the battlefield even in this short paradise.

“I, I lost them. I live with others like me. But I’m the smallest, so they don’t hang around me that much. It’s, it’s just me.” His spark dimmed and ached at the thought. Maybe he could just die here in this paradise. He wouldn’t have to face a war-torn world when he woke up, there were no recent ruins, no one would pity him, but most importantly, Charlie was here. He wouldn’t be alone.

“Sandboy.” Charlie’s voice was soft again, but as if she was afraid.

“Yeah.” He hated how shaky his voice sounded.

“I want to marry you.”

“What?”

“My Daddy said he married my mom because she was his best friend and he wanted to promise to be with her every day.” His spark stuttered it’s rhythm at her words. A wave of warmth settled over him.

“Okay,” B-127 said softly. “I-I’ll marry you.” He racked his brain for something to say back. The words of her earlier question came up. “I’ll be honored to spend each day with the best girl.”


	3. Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Charlie! And I don't own the song (Unchained Melody) and yes the lyrics are wrong, that was intentional. No one gets the lyrics right on the first time.

_**Charlie: 9** _

 

Charlie knew something was different about these dreams when she was nine and at a sleepover. They were playing truth or dare and they wanted to know her scariest dream. She told them that Sandboy never gave her bad dreams. Then she had to explain Sandboy to them. They laughed and said she had an overactive imagination. She laughed with them, but that night as the starlight appeared around her, she felt guilt and doubt gnawed at her. Was Sandboy really just in her head?

“Charlie!” The frantic yell made Charlie yelp. “Oh thank Primus. You’re here.” Charlie didn’t know how, but she could feel Sandboy’s overwhelming relief. As if hearing her would save his life. 

“What’s wrong, Sandboy?” She knelt down and noticed how dim the starlight under her was. She could clearly see honeycombs in the light. A slight creaking filled the air. “Sandboy?”

“They’re gone, the Watchers are gone.” His voice was just as empty and sorrowful as the time he talked about his parents. “Everyone’s gone.” 

“I’m here, Sandboy. I’m here.” She heard something like a shuddering breath. There was a loud thud and a whirring started. It sounded like the cars that her dad had to fix. A car that was working too much because something inside it was broken. Those were hard jobs and her dad always played a song to make the car feel better. She liked listening to it too. There was something so pure and soft about the voice. She wished she could play it because she didn’t know the lyrics.

“Char,” Her name was just a whisper accompanied by a rise in the odd creaking noise that twisted her gut. She could make up lyrics. Closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against the light, Charlie sang.

“Ohhh, my love, my darling, I longer for your touch, along lonely tides.” As Charlie sang the shuddering and creaking stopped. “And time goes by so slowly, and time can do so much. Are you still mine?” Her voice cracked a bit and she heard an airy chuckle. She held in her sigh of relief as warmth filled her at the impish chuckle. “I need your love. I need your love. Godspeed your love to me.” She drifted off, not sure about the lyrics, but she could feel the warm growing brightness behind her eyelids.

“What was that?” His voice didn’t echo as much as it did before.

“It’s a song my dad plays to make cars feel better when he works on them. I know I am not the best singer, but-”

“You are.” His voice was solid and sure. It made Charlie snort. “I’m serious. You sound, real.” She felt like he said that more for his sake than her’s. So she hummed as silence consumed Sandboy. The air was thick and the sky around her became a deeper blue. She stopped humming to admire the beautiful night sky. Then she could feel the air grow thicker. “Ch, Charlie?”

“I’m here. You’re not alone.” The sky became lighter again as the silence resumed, but she could feel that there was something else Sandboy was going to say. So she hummed her dad’s song and waited. 

“Charlie.” She stopped humming at the call. “You’re the best singer because you’re the best girl.” Charlie felt warmth flood her and she couldn’t help smiling.

“And, and you’re my best friend.” She whispered. Her promise to marry him filtered through her head and she wondered if he remembered that promise too. When she woke up the next morning, her cheeks were still warm. Her friends asked if she dreamed of her imaginary friend the Sandboy. Charlie shook her head.

“I talked to a friend.”


	4. Starlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bee's POV

_**Charlie: 11** _

 

There were only two choices for B-127, survive on the ruins of the streets as an orphan or lie about his age and join the academy. It definitely wasn’t a difficult choice, but he had a hard time adjusting. He was either too small and young for some bots or he was not prepared enough and needed to be welded into shape for others. 

Blurr and Hot Shot felt the same, but B-127 saw how their specialties in speed and rebelliousness (respectively) made them stand out. He always got lost in the crowd. The only thing that made him noticeable was his yellow paint. Which would have been more effective if he wasn’t so short. He was always the friend of Blurr or Hot Rod’s buddy, the young tag along. B-127, another young one not even worth naming.

(He clung to Charlie’s name for him even though it sounded weird, she named him.)

Most of the time B-127 was okay with this because he didn’t really care what most of the bots thought. They could call him a useless little bug that would be squashed in ten seconds flat because he knew he could be.

 But he would be as good as a rust bucket if he let a comment that stilled Blurr fly. Blurr never stilled, and the fact that he did irked B-127. So he might have called Getaway a spineless aft headed minibot, which lead to Getaway throwing a punch and B-127 retaliated by throwing a better one. 

This all led to Cliffjumper glaring at B-127, disappointment ringing in his EMF. B-127 knew he was in trouble. A part of being a soldier was making sure to keep a level head at all times, even when the ones we care about are hurt.

Then Cliff wanted to hear his side of the story. B-127 explained himself, but Cliffjumper stopped him when he got to what Getaway said. 

“Getaway said that Blurr would never hear voices because he’s a speed-head?”

“Yeah, I don’t get what the deal is about that b-” B-127 stopped talking when he saw that Cliffjumper was staring at him with the poor you look or as Hot Rod called it, the look for losers. 

“B, that means he won’t get a sparkmate. That bot that was just made for him. The bot that, completes him. The bot that you don’t share with anybody else. That’s why we shouldn’t really be talking about this.” Cliff huffed as Charlie popped up in B-127’s mind. 

“Most Cybertronians can communicate with their sparkmate during recharge.” B-127 was going to ask about if it was like the dreams he had with Charlie, then Cliffjumper said something that was imprinted on B-127’s processor. “I’ll talk to Blurr. Cheer him up with the truth. The younger a bot has dreams, the stronger and rarer the connection. 

“Why?” B-127 couldn’t help but want to know.

“It means that they feel everything you do. So it’s probably a good thing none of you have had dreams yet. Not a good time to be getting that close to anyone. When we win this war though, I’m sure you guys will find that one.” Those words followed him in that night’s dream. 

“You okay, Sandboy?” Charlie, his sparkmate, asked immediately.

“Ah,” B-127 was rendered speechless, because how could he tell Charlie what he found out? He felt her question his existence before. Would she believe him about this? Would she even want to be sparkmated with him?

“You’re worrying.” Her voice stopped his thoughts. He just had to play it cool.

“What? No. I was just,”  

“Overthinking?” He could hear her smirk.

“No! I was simply, testing something out.” He offered lamely.

“And what would that be?” The perfect comeback hit him.

“How long you could keep quiet.” She gasped and Bumblebee somehow could picture her hitting him in retaliation. He started chuckling.

“You jerk!” He busted out laughing at her cry of anger. “You better thank the starlight between us that keeps me from hitting you.” She muttered, but there was no real malice in it and he could feel the smile on her face. “But are you really okay? It felt like you were heavy with something.” Cliff’s comment of being connected with a sparkmate flashed in his mind.

“Got in a fight.” He answered quickly.

“Like a fist fight?” B-127 nodded, before remembering that she couldn’t see him.

“Yeah. Someone was making fun of a friend and I didn’t like it.” 

“But wouldn’t your friend feel worse if you got in trouble for them?” B-127 felt his antennae go up in shock.

“Um, I didn’t,”

“There was this kid in my class. He has poofy hair, glasses, and is small. Some guys were picking on him. They pushed him, so I pushed them back.” B-127 felt something akin to his admiration of Optimus swell within him. 

“They deserved it.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that I hurt the boy I pushed down. That I was the one that got in trouble. My dad told me that while it is okay to help or protect people, we can’t end up like the bad guys. Because the bad guys were probably just the little guy that never stopped fighting,” His inner engines warmed and ran faster at her words.

“You’re really the best girl.” He whispered.

“Uhm,” Charlie cleared her throat, and something in his spark bloomed. Like his spark was organic. “Just brightening my starlight, Sandboy.” The way she nervously said starlight stayed with him throughout the next day. When Blurr (who did punch him for getting in trouble) asked why he was acting like he got a thorough wash. B-127 shrugged and said,

“Just thinking about starlight.”


	5. Drowning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie's POV. This is short for two reasons. It was really hard to write and it led itself to be this short.

_**Charlie: 13** _

 

Charlie vaguely remembers her father’s funeral. Everything was drowned in a grey and black sea. Her body was heavy, head frantically looking for something that wasn't in sight, but her eyes were too blurry to focus on anything. Her coach's words came back to her as she realized what was happening. She was drowning. The one thing she feared when diving was happening to her without her even touching water. Her body burned when she tried to move it, the grey holding her down. The black suffocated her as it blinded her eyes. As if it would erase the revelation from her mind. For a brief moment, she wondered if it was bad that she didn't care, but that was the thing, she just didn't care. She couldn't, it hurt.

Her mother cried and held on to a wailing Otis. Charlie knew that if she cried someone would come and save her, pull her out of the grey and black. But her mouth refused to open. If she opened her mouth the grey and black would enter and kill her. She would die. So, she stayed silent. 

A part of her was afraid to go to sleep, afraid that the grey and black would follow her there. So she fought and fought, listened to the sobs her mom hid from other people. Unfortunately, she fell asleep. 

Sapphire blue starlight bound together like honeycombs greeted her eyes when she opened them again. At first, it hurt, but then her heart pounded in relief as something filled her throat.

“Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! I got my first mission! Not a run, a mission, And it’s with Hot Rod and Blurr!” His excitement echoed within her, ringing the walls of grief around her. She covered her mouth to hold it in. 

“Granted it’s with Getaway, but we left the fight behind us vorns ago. Kind of. Okay, I still side-eye him sometimes, but that’s beside the point, and, and, Charlie?” She couldn’t answer him. She would just end up sobbing in their short time together. 

“Charlie, what happened?” Her body was trembling and she closed her eyes as tears fell. She didn’t want to taint him. Everything else around her was drowned in the grey and black, but he was not. If he saved her, she might pull him down with her. The starlight would disappear. She couldn’t let him lose his starlight. She couldn't lose him.

“Charlie.” He just said her name, but suddenly she felt like she was being cradled by a sturdy warmth. She let out a sob. Screaming and gut-wrenching sobs that racked her whole body. She thought they would break her, but the warmth held her together.

Nothing else was said that night and she fell asleep crying in her dreams. When she woke up, everything was still grey and black, but there was a hint of blue, and she didn’t feel like she was drowning that much.


	6. Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bee POV! And a warning, minor character death.

_**Charlie: 15** _

 

B-127 knew that there would be bad runs or missions. Hot Rod had a few (mainly because of his rebellious streak), even Blurr who held the record of the fastest run. But B-127 should’ve known it would be his first mission that would go horribly wrong. They did everything by the book, even Hot Rod. They were supposed to scout a spotted squadron then report to the Autobot squad leader in Hydrolux. Since it was Getaway and B-127’s first mission, everything was done by the book. They just didn’t expect to get ambushed and captured by the Con squad.

From what B-127 gathered, the Decepticons were called Backbite, Umbra, and Darklight. They were supposed to be two-wheelers, their function made for light and fast travel if B-127 remembered correctly. Now they were assassins working under Megatron. 

Things got worse when Darklight stabbed Blurr above the wiring of his T-Cog after Hot Rod did what he did best, rebelled. A part of B-127 was scared, but another part of him was angry. He wasn’t, couldn’t, let someone else die on his watch. 

Then Getaway betrayed them, he relayed the location of the squadron they were to report to, to save his hide. Well, that backfired horribly. Getaway was the first to die by Darklight’s servos but he wanted to kill the quiet one, so he grabbed the bound B-127. One of the things B-127 knew he would never forget was the stench of the spilled energon that covered Darklight’s servos. A blaster was aimed at his head.

B-127 stabbed him in the arm with his small hidden arm blade, twisting Darklight’s shot to hit Umbra in the head. Of course, this angered Darklight and they fought more. He was being held on the ground as he watched Backbite blast at Hot Rod, before turning to a fallen Blurr, and shot him through his processor. 

An indescribable fury took over B-127. Everything turned red as he turned and stabbed Darklight through his spark. He used the bit of energy left in the dying bot to shoot Backbite. He scanned the area for more threats. Hot Rod had to order him to stand down. They delivered the message to the squad leader, a bot designated as Jazz. The mission was accomplished and they threat terminated. The other mechs congratulated the rookies but B-127 felt, dirty. His servos were covered in the stench of spilled energon, and for some reason, he felt like it was him that shoot Blurr. He could see himself stab Blurr, cut Getaway’s head clean off. He ignored everyone and hid in the corner of the barracks.

“SANDBOY!” B-127 opened his eyes at the yell. “SANDBOY!!”

“Ch-charlie?” His voice was gravelly from the dents suffered by Darklight.

“Sandboy! What’s wrong? And don’t even try to play this off because I felt colder. Like I could only process things like some heartless machine.” B-127 felt his spark stutter at that. Would she still want him if she knew that was what he was? 

“And, and when I came here, everything was red!” Her voice trembled. His senses calculated it as fear. “So what’s going on?” B-127 knew that wherever Charlie was, she didn’t know war. She knew death, but not war. The way it consumes people makes bots into machines. If they were connected, would the war consume her too? “Sandboy.” It was a word but he heard the plea. B-127 was faced with a choice. Let her comfort him, drag her through this war with him (right after she just lost her carrier, her dad), or let her go to live a normal life wherever she was.

“I, I’m not real.” B-127 felt her gasp and he felt the ground shake underneath him.

“That, that’s not true.” She stammered.

“You needed a friend and I was as real as you wanted me to be.” His spark was breaking, or was it hers?

“I feel you! I know you! You are real!” Her words made his resolve waver and he fisted his servos, his servos coated with spilled energon.

“Charlie,”

“Sandboy, please, I need you.” He felt something slide down his grill, but he didn’t see anything there. “Don’t leave me.” The debate started again because he couldn’t leave her. Not when she asked. Not when she lost someone important to her. But she felt his heartlessness. She felt the war. “Sandboy, is this about what happened today?”

“I’m, I’m not good. I’m a soldier. And I would rather not be real than make you like me.” B-127 admitted. 

“That’s not true,” This time it was a whisper, and that enraged him.

“It is!” He stood up and began pacing. “I am a soldier. You may have lost someone by death, but could you really be friends with a thing that sees death on a daily basis? A thing that knows death almost like a friend?” B-127 glared at his energon crusted hands. “A thing whose hands are stained with death? Could you really befriend that? Do you really want such a thing to exist?” Silence meant his question. He dropped down, his body hitting the ground with a hollow thud. It rattled his broken spark. He wondered if it could just go out on its own.

“I want,” Charlie’s words made him look upward. “My Sandboy, my best friend. Even if I have to get through death for him.” B-127’s spark let out a strong pulse and it started mending itself back together. “So don’t leave me.” She whispered.

“How can I ever leave my best girl?” He vowed.


	7. Promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie's POV!

“Seriously?!?” Charlie should have known this was going to happen. It was only a month before her 17th birthday, but it seemed her luck had become downright horrible. She had hit another snag with the car. Her mother remarried some weirdo that everyone loves. Otis got some dog that she had to take care of. Tina hated her for some reason and kept making sure she couldn’t go through the day without dropping something at least once a day. Then there was the way the grey and black that still sat at the edge of her vision, waiting to consume her. So it figures that Sandboy would have to leave her.

“It’s just this mission! I’m breaking into a prison to help rescue some high-ranking officials. I don’t,” Sandboy went silent. Charlie didn’t need to see him to know that he was looking away in shame and fear. If she was honest with herself, his world scared her too. While he told her happy memories (like the time he had to bail a Hot Rod out of trouble).  She still couldn’t forget the few, very few, times his voice echoed and her heart felt empty. Or how it was now a rule for him that he shut her out for a bit. 

“But don’t worry, I’ll be back before the lonely tide, best girl.” His attempt to lighten the mood just solidified the fact that there seemed to be a lifeless quality to his world. Charlie held in a snort at that thought. She knew that was very hypocritical of her to say when she craved her talks with Sandboy to assure her that there was color in life. 

“You’re just going to have to wait. Which I know is hard for even the best girl.” He mocked, dragging Charlie from the edge of her overwhelming thoughts.

“Excuse me, Mr. can’t sit still for five minutes! I will have you know that I can wait and be still longer than you can.” She jabbed back.

“Really?” She could practically picture the way his eyes twinkled with innocent mischief.

“You’re twitching right now.” She smirked.

“Wha, ah, how did you even know that?” He stammered and Charlie broke out laughing. “You didn’t know that, did you?”

“Not a bit,” Charlie said between chuckles. “But I know you.” She admitted.

“And I know you. So I want you to know that it’s okay to be scared of my world.” Charlie felt herself lose her breath. Whether it was because he knew what she was thinking or the unsaid ‘me’, she didn’t know. “But I’m surviving it and, it’s home. My family and friends are here, and, and I want to show you what I survived with you.” Charlie felt her heart swell like it always did with him.

“Flattery will not get me to forget the fact that you want to shut out our dreams for a bit,” Charlie said as she pulled herself down to reality.

“It will only be for I bit, I swear! It should be shorter than the last few times we had to do this.” He said quickly, earnestly. She felt it in his heart that he meant it. And the longest he had shut off their dreams was a week. She tried and failed to stop the small smile on her face.

“Fine, as long as you come back.” It took Charlie four months to realize that he wasn’t coming back. It only took a week for her to determine that he was just a dream. Like everyone else in her life, they move on.


	8. Let Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bee POV! After most of the movie but before the goodbye. And I don't own Smooth Criminal.

_**Charlie: 18**_

 

Bumblebee opened his eyes and immediately wished he could curse Primus. Of course, his luck would lead to him coming back to Charlie in their dreams. What was worse was the slight burning in his throat that followed him ever since he woke up, followed him to their dreams too.

“Sandboy?” Charlie’s hesitant voice called out to him. “Sandboy, are you there?” Bumblebee knew he could do something, let her know that he was there, but then fear struck him. He figured out it was her, his best girl, when he woke up to the second time. Her voice begged him to not leave, just like it did in his dreams. It felt like his dreams. When his memory core was fixed his dreams became clear, and he could see it. Charlie was everything he believed her to be and so much more. But it was also very clear that she was not Cybertronian and how dangerous this war was for her.

“Figures.” Charlie’s sigh dragged him away from his thoughts. “I guess meeting Bumblebee and the starlight got me hoping for you. But you're just a dream. Granted, Bumblebee is a robot that can transform into a car." She chuckled to herself, but the grey sky around him and the unfamiliar weight inside his chest gave away her pain. "He just reminds me so much of you.” Bumblebee warmed at the affection in her voice. “This loyal and sincere child with the duty of a soldier. The most human and real thing I have ever met. He gave me so much, hope. He helped me find me. I even went diving again.” 

 _You didn’t need me to do that, you’re strong enough as is._ Bumblebee wished he could tell her that. Assure her that she would survive.

“I know you would probably say something cheesy and flattering like, ‘The best girl didn’t need him, she’s strong enough as is.’” Charlie chuckled and Bumblebee fought the pout overcoming him.

_It’s not flattery._

“But I did need him. Because of him, I realized that being lost means you can find your way with others. That I’m not alone.”

 _You have me, Charlie._ Bumblebee felt himself twitch, but he held still. If he revealed himself now, well what could he do. He couldn’t talk, he may never be able to talk again.

“He also showed me how close you were to being lost. In those moments where your voice echoed. How you would just sit and stay silent, hoping your demons would just go away.” It was odd for him to hear about himself from her point of view. The fact that she was right almost made him squirm. “He’s like that too. But he made me smile, and without him, I don’t think I would’ve survived.”

 _Let’s agree to disagree._ Bumblebee thought bitterly, but he still felt the warmth from her words in his engines. 

“And I want to apologize.” He felt the air around him weigh him down, which was odd since he could not pick up any gravity readings. “I see why you didn’t want me involved with whatever you were or I imagined you to be involved with." It hurt him that she thought he was just a figment of her imagination. That their relationship wasn't real.

_Could you prove otherwise?_

"Bumblebee is involved with similar things. I was only involved for three days. We won, but it was a lot. I am not ready or prepared for fighting a war. Granted he probably wasn’t either, but I just, thank you for giving me the time to be me instead of dragging me through war. One day I will be ready to fight alongside Bee. Thank you for giving me the option to be normal.” Bumblebee felt her smile, but he had to focus his spark to stay steady, to stay together.

_Here I was, ready to beg you to come with me. How selfish is that?_

“I miss you SB.” He heard her let out a shaky exhale, like the time she was talking about how she felt like she weighed down everyone around her.

 _I'm so sorry, Charlie._ The burning in his throat and the longing in his spark to say that (or anything) powered him on. Bumblebee’s optics came on and he focused them on Charlie, who was blinking awake in the small alcove he made for her in his chest.

“Mornin’ Bee.” She muttered at him with a smile on her face star covered face. His spark let out a pulse, craving to touch her, light her, be a part of her. “Mhmm.” She hummed and stretched in the alcove, her soft skin rubbing against his hard surface. He now understood the phrase melt under a touch. “I don’t know what you did Bee, but that felt great.”

**_Wake up! Wake up!_ **

“I’ll say. I wouldn’t mind waking up to that every day.” Charlie chuckled. Bumblebee let out another pulse (partly spurred by her words, partly uncontrolled curiosity, every bit a perv). “Ah!” Charlie let out a gasp as her back arched and she gripped the seats in the alcove tightly. “Bee.”

 **_Are you okay, Annie?_ ** 

“Mhmm.” She hummed and snuggled into the alcove. “Just let me enjoy this.” A content smile came onto her face, but Bumblebee heard the unspoken ‘right now.’ Just another remind their time together was short. The war coming that much closer to him. Maybe it was a good thing he didn’t have a voice. His silence made it easier to fight the temptation of staying with her. His silence allowed him to drive away from her and back to a war she wasn’t ready for. 

_But maybe one day._


	9. Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie POV and the longest chapter! A slight warning, things get a bit intense (at least for me). Yes, there are cameos from other franchises and I don't own the Labyrinth.

_**Charlie: 20**_

 

Two years, that’s how long it took her to finish her senior year, apply for the army as a mechanic, finish Basic, and get stationed at a secret base in Nevada. Logically, she knew it wasn’t that long, but the moment she saw him with that same bright yellow that reminded her of sunshine with starlight blue eyes widening as he whirred happily, it felt like forever and a day. Then she wrapped her arms around him and it was like she was just coming home to see him the day after he left. Her arms still fit around his neck, the side of his grill/jaw was still soft, the way he cradled her seemed to erase the time that passed. 

Until Burns had to say something, ending their moment. She was there for work, not romance. If the next week he found his jacket covered in glitter (which was Bumblebee’s idea), it was not her fault. Still, she worked alongside the robot called Ratchet. He was their medical officer, but Charlie was a mechanic assistant on paper (she made sure to tell her mother that too). 

Ratchet was surly and seemed to have his way or no way. He was her new Hank. The day he said “There might be a capable medic in you,” she couldn’t stop smiling. She also made friends with the robots Arcee and Jazz. Both were very interested in Earth culture and she wasn’t as ecstatic as Miko, the human’s communications officer, but not as much of a bumbling awkward mess as Jack. She found her place. She felt like she belonged, even when she went home for the holidays, she was happy at home and they were happy for her. She was good. 

But there were days she noticed something. If she concentrated at night, she felt guilty. Not hers, his. Sometimes she would dream of starlight but it was silent around her. There was no young voice weathered by years of fighting, or sarcastic quips that made her chuckle, no “Best girl.” Sandboy was still gone. She still missed him. She knew it was silly to miss a dream but she still did. So she searched for the only person that could get her to forget Sandboy those days, Bumblebee.

The first three days they met built a relationship with him that would never fade, but she quickly found out that those three days were not him, not fully. He was still curious about things, got himself into trouble (more so than before), and he had more heart than he knew what to do with. Then there were things she learned. He was a prankster and a bit spiteful (again the glitter was his idea, she was the only human able to help him). Watching him train and fight, he was cocky but only if he could back it up. She still felt the liquid heat that flooded her as she watched him scissor-kick Wheeljack and pulled him to the ground, ending their spar with a cleverly timed, **_There can only be one._ ** 

That was something that was slowly growing too, her attraction to him. When she first met him, he was lost and had no memory, he needed a friend as much as her. Now, she was a woman, and he was a capable warrior. Admiration grew to attraction. Her body, her heart, responded to the way his antennae gave away everything with just a flick, how his starlight eyes widen when he was shocked or surprised, the way he followed orders with a nod. This all filled her body with that liquid heat or made her heart leap. She watched him, observed him, not knowing why, but not wanting to stop. She wanted to know him, be a part of him. 

That was when she noticed it. Everyone knew he had a hard time without a voice, but there was something else. Some mornings he wouldn’t look at her. At night she saw how something weighed him. Whenever she asked him about it his radio would crackle and his eyes would narrow until his face melted into a frown. Then a buzz, before **_Nothing, tra la la la._ ** And his eyes would go back to their normal size but they were dimmer. Just like the starlight in her dreams when Sandboy was heavy with grief. Whatever he wanted to say, he couldn’t.

So project Voice Box began. It was her, Raf, and Ratchet on the job. It was difficult because the voice box was one of the more human elements of the bots. It couldn’t just be built. It had to be programmed to Bumblebee specifically, then his body had to accept it. Her job was to collect and build the voice box, Raf worked on the programming for it, and Ratchet put it together. It was a long process and they did it during their short free time, but it was going. Some of the other bots heard or saw what they were doing but one glare from Charlie kept them in the secrecy loop.

One day while they were working on Voice Box, Raf asked for some samples of Bee’s voice. Ratchet nodded and called Hot Rod (she knows she heard that name somewhere before) and Arcee.

“They’ll have some samples,” Ratched muttered as he rolled his eyes. “Young people and their blackmail.” He muttered lowly.

“Is that what we’re calling the video you have of Wheeljack blowing himself up?” Charlie smirked. He eyed her as Raf snickered. Arcee and Hot Rod strolled in before he could say anything else.

“Hey nerds, OW!” Hot Rod rubbed the back of his head where Arcee smacked him on the back of the head. 

“What did you guys need?” Arcee asked with a smile.

“I need some samples of Bee’s voice for the coding. I figured getting the code as close to the original would help.” Raf was speaking so innocently, it enhanced the almost malicious smirks growing on Hot Rod and Arcee’s faces.

“Do you still-”

“Yep.” Arcee lifted her arm and typed something there. “It will take a while to load but want to hear it now?” She smirked up at them. Hot Rod nodded his head enthusiastically, and while Ratchet rolled his eyes, he sat up to look at Arcee. Raf and Charlie glanced at each other.

“How much will this embarrass him?” Charlie asked with a sigh.

“Ooooohhhh, he will hate us.” Hot Rod said with certainty. “But this is what he gets for locking our radios on that stupid Magic Dance song. In fact,” Hot Rod looked over to Arcee. She almost looked guilty.

 **_You remind me of the babe!_ ** As if called, David Bowie played out of the bots’ comms and Charlie choked on the laugh that busted from her lips as scowls appeared on the others’ faces. He played that part whenever he was looking for her. She so did not regret watching the Labyrinth with him. 

“She’s working!” Ratchet yelled into the comm.

**_What babe?_ **

“Bumblebee!” Ratchet roared and Charlie swore she could feel the giddy victory that would make Bumblebee’s antennae bounce. “Get everyone.” Ratchet growled at Arcee and Hot Rod. In the end, Wheeljack, Jack, and Miko came. The rest were out on patrol or in meetings.

“Ready?” Arcee smirked as she tapped her arm.

 _Hey Windblade, thanks for the save. Your second best girl, BOT! MECH! FEMME! I meant femme. Not girl because you’re not a girl. Not saying you’re not female, you’re obviously female. It’s just not a girl. You’re not her, the best girl. You’re the second best girl, femme. What was in that energon?_ Charlie knew that laughter erupted from the bots, but she couldn’t hear them. All she heard was him, her Sandboy.

“Play that last part again!” Charlie ordered frantically, silencing everyone.

“What?” Hot Rod gaped.

“Play the last part, please,” Charlie begged this time. Arcee stared at her, eyes narrowing before she went to her arm.

_It’s just not a girl. You’re not her, the best girl. You’re_

“STOP!” Arcee quickly paused it at Charlie’s command. Her heart pounded because she dreamed of hearing those words for so long, and here they wore. “This is Bumblebee?” She asked but a part of her knew the moment she heard it the first time. Maybe a part of her always knew. 

“Yeah, we gave him high-grade energon for the first time,” Wheeljack explained slowly but it still felt like something slammed into her chest. Not painfully, but like something got thrown into place. “What’s up, mini-mech?” Questions flooded her mind. How was it him? Did he know? Did he remember? Is that why he left? Instead, she took a breath.

“I, I know that voice. I’ve dreamt about it.” Then she saw their faces morph into those of the shock that hit her a few seconds ago.

“You dreamt of that Charlie?” Ratchet’s eyes were wide as he stared at her. Charlie nodded slowly.

“Yeah, ever since I was five, I would be surrounded by honeycomb starlight,” Just like his eyes. How did she not see it before? “And he would be there. We would only have a few minutes together, but I dreamt of him every night. Then when I was 17, he told me he was a soldier and so he started cutting off communications on missions. One mission he cut contact but he never opened it again. Or maybe,” The dreams she had been having came to mind. He was there, but he lost his voice.

“I don’t know why I’m so surprised.” Hot Rod’s (Sandboy’s best friend) voice dragged Charlie out of her thoughts. “He was always different. He always grew quiet when talks of femmes and dream courting came up in the barracks.”

“Dream courting?” Raf asked, always the curious one.

“Cybertronians have something akin to the human term soulmate. To court this soulmate, the two mechs will talk and share things through recharging data, or dreams.” Again that breathless feeling came over Charlie as she processed the meaning of Ratchet’s words. 

“Bumblebee, Sandboy, is my soulmate.” Charlie gasped, and something clicked for her. The heavy silences, the way he avoided sometimes her. 

“How does it work?” She listened to Ratchet as he explained a plan began forming.

 

 

That night she focused on Bumblebee, her Sandboy, and the need to see him, talk to him. She appeared on a cliff with a forest behind her. Bumblebee himself was laying on the ground. She heard the whirring noise she came to know as the robots power-on. He blinked and sat up slowly, his eyes never leaving the sapphire starlit sky.

“I think it blends what we see.” He jumped, his antennae sticking straight up. He turned to face Charlie. 

 _How?_ Charlie jumped at the sound of the voice in her head. His eyes glanced to the sides of him. She remembered when she thought it was just a cute habit. Now she knew it was him calculating his chances for escape. _Yep, not getting out of this one._ The voice, his voice, was in time with the way his shoulders and antennae dropped. Finally, he focused back on her and waved at her lightly.

“Is there something you want to talk about Bee?” Charlie crossed her arms, trying not to be swayed by how cute he was, the need to caress his solid face or the way she just wanted to curl up in his chest and drown in those pulses that sent sparks through her body. Bumblebee looked away and rubbed the back of his head. Such a human thing that increased the very natural human thoughts in her.

_Of course, there’s a lot I want to talk about. We could talk about being sparkmates, or if you’re happy here, or the fact that I’m Sandboy and I still remember that time you promised to marry me, or we could talk about how you are a beautiful, fragile, but strong hearted woman and I’m a freaking robot that wants to touch every bit of you as you moan my name. Or we could just skip the talking and I could let you feel my spark as I send out the pulses of everything you overload me with. Any of those things would de be great, especially if I had a voice._

**_You’re my best friend._ ** He shrugged but still kept from looking at her. She was thankful because she couldn’t close her mouth as the images his voice gave her played in her brain. She shifted her legs as the liquid heat went further down at the particular image of her legs wrapped around his middle and his arms holding her up as she arched from those pleasant pulses once more and kissed his grill, tasting the metal there. She was definitely not opposed to the no talking idea. 

 _Actually,_ The sound of his voice in her head popped her fantasies. 

 **_How?_ ** His radio played as he looked at her with wide eyes. She licked her dry lips and noticed the way his eyes seemed to zoom in that action.

_What?_

“Arcee and Hot Rod wanted to get back at you for all the magic dances. So they played your first time on high-grade energon.” Charlie was proud that her voice was more stable than her emotions.

 _I really need to get rid of those files._ Bumblebee’s antennae dropped and his eyes narrowed.

“You said you already had a best girl.” Charlie drew his attention again. “The moment I heard, I knew. You’re Sandboy.” She didn’t ask but he still nodded.

 _I really did want to tell, I just,_ Bumblebee was looking away from her and he drew his knees in. Just like he did when they first meant. It really hit Charlie just how scared he was. She approached him and laid a hand on his arm. He just turned to look at her, but he didn’t uncurl.

“I wasn’t, okay I was a little mad, but mostly I was shocked. But after that wore away, so did the anger. I really get why you couldn’t say anything. It is a lot." Charlie sighed, still trying to wrap her head around the idea of forever or the depth of the bond. "And after Ratchet’s explanation. A part of me is actually tired of the subject.” Her smile was not from her own joke, but from the victory, she felt when he loosened as the high purr she came to know as his laughter rumbled through his body. “I was just really shocked by how right it felt. It was the missing piece to the puzzle. You are the bolt to my screw. It just made sense.”

 _Primus, I love you._ A small pulse, just a vibration, wrapped itself around her and she couldn’t help the gasp that escaped from her. That small amount was enough to tell her volumes of what was going through him. The worry of pain (seeing her in pain), the joy of a smile (her smile), the fear of rejection, the courage of trust (how she let go of the wheel to let him drive), the magnetic need to see her (the babe with the power), the want to touch her. She felt it as if it was a part of her. She looked up at him and wanted to say the words, God she did, but she couldn’t. 

“I, I wouldn’t mind if we tried the pulse thing you were thinking of.” She muttered softly. Then her eyes widened with what she said, but she stood her ground. There was no point in taking it back now. His brows furrowed and he tilted his head.

 _What, pul-_ The moment it hit him he straightened and slowly turned his head downward. _Charlie, can you hear me?_ The hope in his eyes burned her throat and made her heart bloom with joy as she nodded. A part of her expected a pulse or an exuberant hug of joy, she did not expect him to lean his forehead against hers, as he traced her face. 

 _Charlie._ His voice whispered her name like a fervent prayer and a small tremor went through his finger. She held in her gasp, but her heart raced as liquid heat bubbled within her. 

 _Charlie._ He rubbed the side of his head against hers, the tremor turning into a pleasant vibration, almost like a purr, that pushed the liquid heat through her. The heat made her feel alive and brave.

“My Bumblebee.” She turned her head and kissed the side of his jaw, hoping to give him the heat he gave her. The vibrations stopped from the sudden pulse that went through him. Quickly, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her.

 _Do that again, please._ Logically, she knew they did not breathe like humans, but his plea was so breathless and full of human want, she really couldn’t tell the difference. Or maybe it was the way her body was feeling like she drank hot-chocolate on a cold day. Either way, she complied by licking the edge of his grill. _Ah!_ There was a shrill before the next pulse. She couldn’t tell if it was the sudden burning pulse of want or the movement of one of his arms to hold himself up that allowed his other hand to find a way underneath her shirt. One of the fingers of his hand pressed lightly on the small of her back.

 _My Charlie._ Oddly enough she those words didn’t make her feel possessed, they made her feel connected to him. And she had to be closer. She wrapped her legs around him and jutted her hips forward. She wasn’t connecting with him there so she grabbed the side of his face-plates and kissed him.

“I, need, to, connect, with, you, now.” She commanded as she left a trail of kisses across his grill.

 _Mhm._ He hummed and she heard something slid open. A light illuminated her midsection. She looked down to see a star inside of Bee’s chest, open just for her. But there was something off about it. _Charlie?_   She looked back up to him. His vibrations were still strong, but they were not as intense as before. She allowed herself to look beyond Bee for just a minute, to see the same sapphire sky. They were still dreaming.

“Bee, wake up.” The light on her midsection disappeared and the vibrations lessened to a hum.

 _What?_ His head was tilted in her hand.

“I want to be awake when I connect with you, not in the world we escape to,” Charlie explained as she caressed his face. Still, he looked away.

 _It would be better here._ She didn’t know what hurt her heart more. The fact that she knew why he said that, or the fact that he did say it and looked away. She gently guided him to face her. She kissed the top of his grill lightly. The hums grew back to vibrations.

“I don’t want better.” This time she trailed her caress down his face and to his throat. She bent over to kiss the other side her hand was not caressing. “I want you.” She said as she straightened. The pulse this time was softer, almost like a tide drawing her in. But the emotions in it were full of such admiration and vulnerability. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his. Silence settled between them as she breathed him in, and allowed him to see what she saw. He saw damaged goods but she saw her Bumblebee that was determined to get back up. Yes, she loved Sandboy, but Bumblebee was real. Whatever condition he was in, amnesiac and lost, playful and cocky, angry and terrifying, sad and alone, he was still better than any of her dreams. He was real. 

 _Let’s wake up._ He whispered. She opened her eyes and kissed his forehead.

“Thank you, for being real.” She whispered.

 _Thank you for not leaving._ He whispered back. They stared at each other for a moment before she closed her eyes. She opened them back up to see her barracks. She scrambled out of her bed and ran to Bumblebee’s, which was right next door to hers. She didn’t even have to knock. The door opened and there he stood. His starlight eyes were soft and a low whir was interrupted by a spark within his throat, and he looked away.

“I love you!” She blurted before she dove for him. Just like she knew he would, he caught her, breaking her fall. She kissed his grill and licked the edge of it. The metal was tangy, sparks bit back at her tongue, and it was salty from the desert dirt. It was real. It was her Bumblebee.


End file.
